The futures were trading higher Friday, as we get ready to end what was a solid week for the risk-on crowd and for the meme stock army. All the major indexes finished the day lower except the Dow Jones industrials, as the early gains Thursday gave way to some profit taking by noon and through the afternoon into the close. Once again, the initial move higher was due to the producer price index coming in below expectations at a year-over-year level of 9.8% and down for July by 0.5%, the first decline since April of 2020. The bad news on the day is that first-time claims for unemployment soared to 262,000 the highest so far in 2022.

The sellers returned to the Treasury market, as yields were up across the curve, with the benchmark 30-year bond closing up 13 basis points at a 3.17% yield. Thirty-year mortgage rates also moved back over the 5% level after coming back below there recently for the first time since early April.

Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude both closed over 2% higher after the International Energy Agency noted they expect global energy demand to increase by 2.1 million barrels per day in 2022. In addition, OPEC+’s puny 100,000 increase in production may end up being a non-issue as many anticipate a Russian production cut. Natural gas had a big day, closing up almost 7% at $8.76. Gold closed flat and Bitcoin pushed modestly higher.

24/7 Wall St. reviews dozens of analyst research reports each day of the week with a goal of finding fresh ideas for investors and traders alike. Some of these daily analyst calls cover stocks to buy. Other calls cover stocks to sell or avoid. Remember that no single analyst call should ever be used as a basis to buy or sell a stock. Consensus analyst target data is from Refinitiv.

These are the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen on Friday August 12, 2022.

Analog Devices Inc. (NASDAQ: ADI): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating on the chip giant and has a $210 target price. The consensus target is $195.38. The stock was last seen Thursday trading at $174.55.

Angi Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGI): Oppenheimer maintained an Outperform rating with a $10 target price. The consensus target is $9.55. The stock closed almost 3% lower on Thursday at $5.05.

Atlas Corp. (NYSE: ATCO): BMO Capital Markets downgraded the stock to Market Perform from Outperform and lowered the $17 price target to $14.45. The consensus target is $16.48. The stock closed on Thursday at $14.00.

Barings BDC Inc. (NYSE: BBDC): Raymond James downgraded the stock to Outperform from Strong Buy and trimmed its $12.50 target price to $11.50. The consensus target is $11.68. The stock closed on Thursday at $10.29.

Centerra Gold Inc. (NASDAQ: CGAU): Scotiabank downgraded the shares to Sector Perform from Sector Outperform and dropped the $12 target to $7. The consensus target is $8.48. The stock was last seen Thursday at $5.19, up over 5% for the day.
Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX): Credit Suisse resumed coverage of the energy giant with an Outperform rating and a $202 price target. The consensus target is $178.32, and Thursday’s closing print was $159.62.

CyberArk Software Ltd. (NASDAQ: CYBR): Goldman Sachs raised its price target on the Neutral-rated stock to $175 from $158. The consensus target is $174.40. The stock closed almost 3% lower on Thursday at $145.59.

Dutch Bros. Inc. (NYSE: BROS): Baird maintained a Neutral rating on the stock but raised the $30 price target to $46. The consensus target is $38.75. The shares closed on Thursday at $46.29, up over 5% after posting solid results for the quarter.

Fisker Inc. (NYSE: FSR): Exane BNP Paribas downgraded the electric vehicle car company to Neutral from Outperform and cut the price target in half to $10. The consensus target is $16.22. The stock ended Thursday at $9.23, which was down almost 8% on the day.

Gates Industrial Corp. PLC (NYSE: GTES): Evercore ISI cut the shares to Inline from Outperform. The firm also trimmed its $15 target price to $13.50, below the consensus target of $14.64. The stock closed at $12.29 on Thursday.

Healthcare Realty Trust Inc. (NYSE: HR): SMBC Nikko upgraded the stock to Outperform from Neutral and has a $30 price target. The consensus target is $31.80. The stock closed on Thursday at $26.07.

IAC Inc. (NASDAQ: IAC): Goldman Sachs lowered its $155 price target on the Buy-rated stock to $133. The consensus target is $127.92. The last trade Thursday hit the tape at $75.13.

Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ: JACK): Goldman Sachs raised the $85 price target on the beloved fast-food giant to $97 and maintained a Buy rating. The consensus target is $84.22. Thursday’s close at $84.91 was up close to 5% after revenues came in above expectations.

Paycom Software Inc. (NYSE: PAYC): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating and also raised its $375 target price to $415. The consensus target is $392.36, and Thursday’s closing trade was for $377.90 a share.

Paysafe Ltd. (NASDAQ: PSFE): RBC Capital Markets lowered its Outperform rating to Sector Perform and trimmed the $4 price target to $3. The consensus target is $3.46 for now. The stock closed Thursday at $2.06, down 7% on the day after the company cited a “challenging macro backdrop.”

Rackspace Technology Inc. (NYSE: RXT): RBC Capital Markets downgraded the stock to Sector Perform from Outperform and sliced the target price to $7 from $9. The consensus target is $9. The shares closed at $5.81 on Thursday.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: REGN): Jefferies maintained an Underperform rating with a $536 target price. The consensus target is up at $685.70. The stock closed Thursday at $623.90, down close to 3% for the day.
Tempur Sealy International Inc. (NYSE: TPX): Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of the mattress and bedding leader with a Buy rating and a $34 target price. The consensus target is $30.22. Thursday’s close at $28.52 represented nearly a 3% gain for the day on the coverage start.

Upstart Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: UPST): The Atlantic Equities downgrade to Underweight from Neutral included a price target cut to $22 from $32. The consensus target is $29.17. The stock was last reported at $31.71, down over 5% on the day after the company reported slowing revenue growth and a somewhat dismal short-term outlook.

Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS): Goldman Sachs reiterated a Buy rating on the entertainment giant. It also raised its $130 price objective to $140. The shares closed on Thursday at $112.43, up another 4% for the day, after posting stellar results earlier this week.

Warner Music Group Corp. (NASDAQ: WMG): Truist Financial reiterated a Buy rating with a $35 target price. The consensus target is $34.53. The stock closed on Thursday at $29.97.

Welltower Inc. (NYSE: WELL): SMBC Nikko’s downgrade was from Outperform to Neutral with an $84 price objective. The consensus target is $94. The closing share price on Thursday was $81.23.

Wendy’s Co. (NASDAQ: WEN): Oppenheimer reiterated an Outperform rating on the fast-food and meme stock favorite. Its $25 price target is greater than the $23.10 consensus target. The stock closed on Thursday at $21.29.

XP Inc. (NYSE: XP): J.P. Morgan downgraded the stock from Overweight to Neutral with a $23 target. The consensus target is $34.57. The shares ended Thursday at $18.77, down close to 9% for the day after earnings and revenues came in below estimates.

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Thursday’s early top analyst upgrades and downgrades included Altice USA, Array Technologies, Blue Apron, CF Industries, Coinbase Global, Emerson Electric, Frontier Group, Micron Technology, Shopify, Take-Two Interactive Software, Trade Desk, Unity Software and Walt Disney. Analyst calls seen later in the day were on Coupang, Exxon Mobil, First Solar, Lowe’s Companies, Traeger, Upstart and more.

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